Historical Perspectives Just Because: An Original Zenith A386 El Primero Chronograph And The Awesome Striking Tenth, Next To Each Other

The watch on the left is the awesome Zenith El Primero Striking Tenth chronograph, a watch we reviewed in detail here and absolutely loved (sidenote, if you've never seen one of these in action, you have to watch the video here). The watch at right looks a lot like the 2010 Striking Tenth, doesn't it? It should, because it's the reference from which it was birthed.

You see, the Striking Tenth borrowed its tri-color dial from the original El Primero chronograph from 1969 - reference A386. This early automatic chronograph (some would say it's the first self-winding chronograph, some would say the first high-beat self-winding chronograph, and others, the first self-winding integrated chronograph) is something of a cult classic, as Zenith themselves say no more than 2000 examples were ever produced.

The tri-color dial of the A386 has since become Zenith's trademark dial configuration, but did you know there is more than just aesthetics behind its design? The story goes that rey was chosen for the hours register to remind the wearer of the impressive length of time it counted. The lighter shaded register was to keep track of seconds, and remind us of time's fleeting nature. Finally, the blue register, a mid-way point between the light and dark registers, measured minutes, the chronograph's essential unit. Interesting, no?

Below is our video review of the Striking Tenth, originally published here.

This week's Bring a Loupe will mix tool watches and elegant pieces, introducing you to some of the shining stars in each category. You will learn about one of the rarest military watches, the Tornek-Rayville, and discover the Cosmic from Omega as well as another triple date moonphase calendar from Universal Geneve. As usual, you should expect a fair number of beautiful chronographs, including the inonic Lange Datograph. And I will also mention some auction picks, from a very sexy Patek to a disturbingly fraudulent Omega. This is your Bring a Loupe for July 31, 2015.

The Mondaine Helvetica 1 Smart, first introduced last March, will now be released in a limited run of 1957 pieces to commemorate the birth of the Helvetica font. The Mondaine Helvetica Smart 1957will be available for pre-order starting July 29, 2015, only through Mondaine and the MoMA Store. Pre-ordering will end September 6, 2015, with permanent pieces entering the collection in the fall.

The Longines Heritage Diver Chronograph is a sturdy, boldly styled combo diver's watch and chronograph that takes inspiration from a great classic model. Is it just another me-too heritage model, or a real blast from the past? Find out now on The Value Proposition.

If you’re anything like me, you mainly know Zenith for their El Primero Chronographs—and, most notably, for their El Primero Classic Chronograph that they released at Baselworld this year. What most people don’t know is that the 150-year-old manufacture released another batch of watches at Baselworld 2015; these pieces received less camera-time than others, but they’re all doing pretty interesting things—so it may be unfair that Zenith’s new Type 20 Pilot collection has been flying under the radar for this long.

There are several reasons that most people should never consider bidding on a watch that has the words “as is” or “for repair” in its description on eBay. In addition to making me have to overpay for adventurous restorations, pieces like this trade at such a small discount that it is rarely, if ever, a cost effective way to get your hands on a great vintage piece. There are exceptions, but for the most part, for collectors this is a losing gamble. This recent adventure very well illustrates this point and shows off awesome vintage Tudor in the process.

HODINKEE Executive Editor Benjamin Clymer and CEO Kevin Rose are delighted to announce that Mr. Frank Roda has joined the HODINKEE team as our new Director of Business Development. In his new role, Frank will oversee advertising and strategic partnerships.

This year at BaselWorld, Glashütte Original announced two new versions of the PanoMaticLunar, equipped with two new dial colors, and we just had our first chance to go hands on and close up with both watches. The two new versions are a steel PanoMaticLunar with a blue dial, and a rose gold model with a black dial.

Recently, HODINKEE reader Brandon Moore sent in a question: "I am wondering if the modern interpretations of the Breguet Natural Escapement (F.P. Journe Optimum, Kari Voutilainen Vingt-8, and Laurent Ferrier Automatic) have implemented specific solutions to the shortcomings of this design, namely the 'backlash' between the escape wheels, that Breguet experienced, and which caused him to ultimately abandon his design." This is a wonderful question, that deserves a careful response.

The Speedmaster Professional has, since its introduction in 1957, come in a truly bewildering variety of shapes, sizes, designations and limited editions, but one of the most polarizing models, when it appeared, was the X-33. The X-33 was introduced, in the first version, in 1998; it was the result of an Omega development program designed to (finally) produce a multifunction quartz watch that would be a completely modern successor to the mechanical Speedmaster Professional, and that would meet up to date NASA and ESA requirements for a flight-qualified timepiece. It was an ambitious project, which took place over the course of five years. Prototypes were flight-tested by both American and European astronauts; the first version of the X-33 would go on to be used by U.S., European, and Soviet astronauts on the Space Shuttle, the Mir Space Station, and other missions and it was used by military flight crews as well.

Hamilton's film What Makes a Fine Watch Fine opens with a shot of a transparent watch, its gear train seemingly floating in air. Today we are used to seeing brands advertise their new watches with computer rendered animations that show the mechanics of a watch movement in amazing clarity. The absolutely crazy thing about that film, and the watch that it shows, is that it was shot in 1947.